CS2 Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024 Recap

The second and final CS2 Major of 2024 is now in the history books following an epic three-map Grand Final that went the distance until the 24th round of Map 3. The tournament’s Opening Stage and Elimination Stage were held at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition & Convention Center, while the Playoff Stage was played out at the Shanghai Oriental Sports Center. 24 teams qualified through the RMR tournaments, with Spirit ultimately coming out victorious for their first Major championship in history and the $500,000 share of the prize pool. The biggest stories of the CS2 Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024 revolve around unlikely victories, heartbreaking defeats, and everything in between.

Check out our blog to find coverage of the Shanghai Major and more CS2 eSports content.

CS2 Esports

Spirit is Crowned CS2 Major Winners for the First Time

The Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024 will be remembered for a number of firsts in the Counter-Strike scene — one of them being Spirit hoisting the most coveted trophy in the game. Backed by one of the best players in the entire world and eventual MVP of the entire Major in Danil “donk” Kryshkovets, the organization won their first Major in history following a 2-1 victory over FaZe in the Grand Final. Despite the decades of experience brought by Finn ‘karrigan’ Andersen, Håvard ‘rain’ Nygaard, and the rest of the FaZe lineup, their dream campaign in China did not reach its perfect conclusion as the title-deciding series went all the way to the final round of the final map of the whole event. In the end, Spirit’s Russian-majority squad took home the gold and completed a lifelong goal for all five players on the team. It was especially sweet for Dmitry ‘sh1ro’ Sokolov, one of the most well-known AWPers in the world after the pandemic era of CS, who finally earned his crown after coming up short in the previous four Majors he attended.

NiKo Leaves G2 Without a Major Crown

One of the biggest what-ifs of the entire tournament was whether or not G2 and Nikola “NiKo” Kovač finally had the chance to win their first-ever Major together. After reports of NiKo leaving the team to officially join the Falcons in 2025, there was a lot of hype surrounding the probability of the Shanghai Major being the perfect end to a story four years in the making. Even with arguably the best AWPer in the world, Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov, the greatest prize in Counter-Strike was still unreachable for G2. It was an emotional end of an era for NiKo, as one of the greatest mechanical players of all time lost what might have been his best chance in recent history at winning the event. They bowed out in the semifinals after getting swept 2-0 by FaZe in the lower half of the playoff bracket.

The MongolZ Cement their Legacy in CS2

The MongolZ were one of the greatest revelations of the Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024. Everyone knew they were good, but no one thought they could even advance to the Playoff Stage. Coming from one of the least represented regions in the world, Asia, The MongolZ defied all expectations and won six consecutive games between the Opening Stage and the Elimination Stage to book their spot in the Shanghai Major’s quarterfinals. Though their fairytale-esque run ended with a 2-0 loss to MOUZ, it’s the legacy they left behind that matters more than the end result. They carried the pride of Asian CS on their backs and proved on multiple occasions that they can hang with the biggest teams in the world from Europe and the Americas.

Other Results from the Perfect World Shanghai Major

While Spirit took home the trophy in China and $500,000 from the total prize pool, the rest of the participants got their fair share of the earnings as well. FaZe took home $170,000 for second place, G2 and MOUZ both received $80,000 for reaching the semifinals, while The MongolZ, Liquid, Heroic, and Vitality all bagged $45,000 after bowing out in the quarterfinals. The teams that were eliminated in the Elimination Stage, namely FURIA, Natus Vincere, MIBR, paiN, GamerLegion, 3DMAX, BIG, and Wildcard were each given $20,000 to round out the prize money awardees.

All in all, it’s safe to say that the Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024 was a resounding success. It brought a lot of attention to the game for a strong finish to the year and laid the foundation for future international events to be held in China. Be sure to check out the other guides and pieces on our website for more CS2 needs!

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